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From Soul Nourishing Resources, to Event Re-Caps, Musings, Teachings, and more, The Blog is an abundant source of inspiration and information for you to explore.
The First Sunday of Advent: Reflection on Hope
The classic definition of hope is: 'a desire accompanied by expectation or belief in fulfillment.'
Diving deeper, I discovered through the work of Brené Brown in Atlas of the Heart that hope is a function of struggle.
“HOPE is the conviction, against all data, that GOD is tenacious and persistent in overcoming the deathliness of the world, that GOD intends Joy and Peace.” -Richard Rohr
The quote by Richard Rohr talks about Hope as the conviction that God will overcome the deathliness of the world and that God intends Joy and Peace (two other themes we'll look at this advent). It's in this 'deathliness' of the world where we develop hope. During times of adversity and discomfort, pain and struggle, hope is learned.
Reflect on Hope
Today, take some time to reflect on hope, and chat with God about what it’s like for you to consider hope here and now…
Joy, redefined
Sometimes, you learn something new and it seemingly changes everything.
That’s how I felt when I was deepening my understanding of Joy last advent season.
We often look at joy as ‘joy vs happiness’. Perhaps we have all been told the classics that ‘happiness is surface level and joy is deeper’, or ‘true joy only found in Christ’. Perhaps we’ve been told that ‘happiness is skin deep while joy is felt in our soul’. Or maybe the two have been used interchangeably throughout your life. My prior understanding of Joy had been this, pulled from the pages of an advent resource I made years ago…
How To Find Enchantment In Your Daily Living
A word I’ve been loving lately is enchantment.
*cue Enchanted by Taylor Swift*
To be enchanted is to be “utterly delighted, fascinated, or captivated by something, often with a sense of wonder or magic. It implies being charmed or spellbound, as if under a magical influence.”
You may read this and think of the popular trends going around social media of ‘romanticizing your life’, where you take the everyday habits you do and add a sense of play, delight, joy, and presence to them. This idea is rooted in a way of living that shifts our gaze so that the mundane becomes magical. As we take our daily habits and infuse them with delight and presence, we begin to learn more about who we are— who God made us to be— and to honour the truth of our joys, our delights, the things that make us slow down and be captivated by the moment so that it feels like enough.
“There is truth here.”
As I sat on the tile floor on my knees, the air fragrant and soaring with the smell of incense and the echoing voices of the children chanting, the intricately folded pink lotus flower in my hand held my gaze as the words reverberated through my body…
“There is truth here”
As I shifted my softened gaze across the outdoor space darkened by night and lit by jasmine candles, I saw Kru Nam seated on an outer bench, hands held together in prayer, watching her mouth speak the same prayers the children were chanting loudly. Her eyes were closed. Her heart was being poured out on full display; her heart for the kids in the home she cares for, her heart for the child who recently passed just months before, her heart for her faith. It was a beautiful stoic, faith-filled expression and moment that felt so real and honest and raw— how beautiful to bear witness.
Sacred Presence Recap
The silence felt loud with the presence of our Divine Maker as we soaked in Sacred Presence…
When Kimee and I began dreaming up retreats, a silent retreat was one that was added to the list. A day with a focus on silence and solitude, where those in attendance would gather together in the same space, but each having their own individual experiences with God in a time of extended silence. This silent space would be filled with an invitation— to explore with God where God is leading, to simmer in the silence of what is rising into awareness, to rest and retreat away from the noise of the world that seems to keep us in a continual state of ingesting podcasts and music, advertising and agendas.
A visit to Penuel Ridge by Kimee left her enchanted with the space and had us committing to a date in early June to invite women into this space of silence. A labyrinth, hiking paths, a small lake, a house filled with books and beds and an intentional lack of clocks was the space that held our souls craving this day of silence.